1. Field
Non-limiting example embodiments of the present invention relate to a light guide plate, a panel light-emitting structure, and a disk drive. More specifically, a non-limiting example embodiment of the present invention relates to a light guide plate, a panel light-emitting structure, and a disk drive utilized for a panel portion furnished with a disk slot.
2. Description of the Related Art
One example of the related art is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-open No. 2001-28203 [F21V 8/00, G02B 6/00, G02F 1/13357] (Document 1) laid-open on Jan. 30, 2001. A surface light-emitting device in Document 1 is utilized for a backlight of a liquid crystal display, for example, and includes a planar light guide plate formed in a substantially rectangular shape having a reflection layer on the bottom surface and a light emitting surface on the top surface. On one surface of the light guide plate, a light diffuse portion is formed for diffusing a light incident from an LED light source within the light guide plate. The light diffuse portion is constituted by a plurality of notches each taking a shape of a triangular pyramid, or the like so as to be recessed into the light guide plate. Each notch is formed by taking a point apart from the light emitting surface as a vertex. Thus, a light from the LED light source is never directly emitted from the light emitting surface. Furthermore, each notch has an inclined surface so as to be wider toward the bottom surface, so that the light from the LED light source is diffused, deflected toward the bottom surface of the light guide plate, and then guided to the reflection layer. This makes it possible to realize an efficient light emission.
However, in the technique described in Document 1, at the end section of the LED light source of the light guide plate, an incident angle of the light directed from the LED light source to the side surface of the light guide plate is not above a critical angle, so that it is remarkably dark at the end.
Furthermore, in Document 1, an idea for irradiating the neighbor of a disk loading slot of a disk drive and the concept therefore are not mentioned.